Kimber and Stormer's beautiful friendship runs into a little hitch, mostly because Kimber has been trying a little too hard to get hitched to too many men. Kimber and Stormer pairing, set soon after the "Hollywood Jem" episodes.

Eric could never decide whether Stormer
was the most or least troublesome of those most troublesome (and
lucrative) charges, the Misfits. She was possibly less expensive to
maintain than the other girls. At any rate, she was slightly less
likely to be the first to trash a television studio or throw a random
orphan into the pool at a charity benefit, although that depended on
how badly she wanted to please Pizzazz at any given time. She
produced lucrative pop-rock gems on demand, and had never seemed
quite to catch on to the concept of writer's royalties. She had a
tender conscience, which could be inconvenient, but reasonably easy
to soothe. All in all, buried deep in the finest print of the small
print of the business agreements that were his heart, Eric had quite
an affection for Stormer.

On the other hand, none of the other
girls had ever quit the Misfits to cut soppy rock ballads with a
Hologram.

Oh, they had quit, naturally. If
tearing up a contract or two was cause for serious dislike, then Eric
would have to admit that Jetta was his favourite Misfit and that
letting Pizzazz recruit a greedy, treacherous British con-artist
hadn't been a deadly mistake. Jetta was loyal enough; she stuck to
the Misfits, or at least to Pizzazz, like the leech she was. Eric
suspected it was because Jetta couldn't afford Pizzazz to have Daddy
cancel her visa, or she would spend the rest of her life playing gay
bars in Bristol as the ex- and least famous Misfit, but it couldn't
be denied that she'd not once thrown in her sax.

In general, Eric was resigned to the
Misfits throwing tantrums, vanishing briefly and turning up again
with demands for more money and more attention (although Eric wasn't
certain that anything short of enslaving an entire population could
get Pizzazz more money or attention). It was one of the hazards of
managing a group of spoiled, overindulged brats who spent far too
much time letting Clash feed their out-sized egos. If the Misfits
weren't the second-highest earners for Stingers Sound, he'd have
weaselled out of their contracts years ago. Regretfully, because he
had a sneaking fondness for his first and major protégées, but
business was business.

No, the difference was that Roxy had
quit on the grounds of a bruised ego and a lot of cash, while Pizzazz
had quit because of a misguided crush on Riot, both perfectly
resolvable issues. All those two really wanted was even more money
and pampering, sorry, 'appreciation' than the excess they already
had. Only Stormer had actually gone over to the enemy entirely, and
left present the threat that she would do so again, if pushed. He'd
never have thought it of malleable little Mary Roberts, but she had
the heart of a traitor.

Misguided crush... There was something
nagging at the corner of Eric's brain, some little worry, if he could
only get at it. But it was understandable that Pizzazz had fallen for
the only rock star with a bigger ego than her own, the existence of
which (and presence in his life and career) was a sort of negative
miracle that convinced Eric that whether or not God was real, there
was certainly a Devil. Stormer, like the secretly soppy girl she was,
had only wanted a 'real friend', and had managed to pick on the only
Hologram weak enough for Eric to regularly manipulate. It was
pathetic, really. He was almost sorry for them.

He pushed the problem from his mind and
went to have a chat with his accountant about what to do about the
ridiculously existent amount of tax Stinger Sound was paying.

After all, he congratulated himself on
having fixed the Kimber problem, for good. Stormer was never running
back to her.

Kimber could never get over the
excited, guilty feeling that by phoning Stormer she was doing
something very, very naughty, for which she'd get in trouble at any
moment. Sneaking away to write love songs and perform in some
run-down nightclub with Stormer had been even more thrilling than
facing a packed auditorium, and some of that sweaty-palmed
anticipation still touched her every time she dialled the Misfits
Mansion.

Of course, Jerrica had spoiled her fun
a bit, by taking Stormer to her heart and even offering her a place
in the Holograms. It somehow wasn't as exciting when your goody-goody
big sister/lead singer/dictator general liked your bad girl best
friend. Trust Jerrica to spoil everything. Still... phoning Stormer
was still an act of rebellion. She was a Misfit, of course. And -
well, phoning Stormer was just a very daring thing to do, anyway.

Part of the adventure was that Stormer
didn't have her own personal phone line at the Misfits Mansion, so
Kimber never quite knew who would be on the other end of the line.
She sometimes wondered why. Of course, Kimber didn't have a personal
phone line in her room, because that would mean she could talk to
people without Jerrica and her adopted big sisters interfering - and,
yeah, there was something about needing money for the Starlight
Foundation and not personal luxuries, or something. Pizzazz didn't
have a brood of orphans to support, so it must have just been her
determination to oversee every inch of Stormer's life and interfere
in all her plans and friendships.

Sometimes Kimber suspected that the
only significant difference between Pizzazz and Jerrica was their
dress budget.

She held her breath and dialled. The
line wasn't the main Misfits Mansion number, which only reached
servants and secretaries. But it did run through to the Misfits'
favourite chilling-out room, where there was a one-in-four chance of
getting hold of Stormer. Pizzazz didn't stoop to answering phones,
not wanting to run the risk of having to speak with an ordinary human
being, but Clash was only too happy to help.

"What d'yer want?"

Oh, dear. Kimber took a deep breath,
and tried very hard to disguise her voice. "Could I please speak
to Stor-"

"Look, ducky, do yourself a
failure and get lost. No one here wants to waste their time talking
to a Hologram, all right? Oh, and congratulations on your wedding -
or should I be congratulating the ex-groom on his escape? I hope you
got some money back on the dress!"

There was a click, and Kimber sighed
into the dial tone. A girl made one little mistake like changing her
mind at the altar, and people never let it go. Surely the Misfits had
something else to torment her with by now; it had been nearly a
fortnight since the wedding! Kimber knew Stormer would never be so
insensitive. She was a lovely, sensitive girl, even if she was a
Misfit, and Kimber looked forward to crying on a sympathetic shoulder
and having consolatory ice cream sundaes together.

Jetta had at least said enough for
Stormer to figure out who had called. That might be a good thing, if
Stormer managed to call back. On the other hand, if Pizzazz had been
in the room, Kimber's chances of talking to Stormer had just
diminished to nil.

Kimber tried to ignore Aja and Jerrica
exchanging concerned glances and sat down and pointedly turned her
attention to the cartoons some of the Starlight Girls had managed to
sneak in among their daily diet of MTV and improving documentaries.
There was always the danger that one of those two would cross over
and try to lend sisterly sympathy, and Kimber wasn't in the mood.
They would try to be understanding at her, and no one understood
Kimber, no one at all.

Except Stormer.

Besides, all she had to do was wait
until Jetta got bored, and then try again. Judging by the usual
attention span of the Misfits, just after the next ad break would do
it. Kimber snuggled up to her littlest foster sisters and
concentrated on the Road Runner.

It was only when Jerrica started
herding the youngest Starlight Girls to bed that Kimber realised
she'd been distracted into reveries by the haunting image of Bugs
Bunny in a wedding dress. Her own dress had been much, much prettier,
and had been much more flattering - with a much better figure to be
flattered than Bugs, if she did think so herself. It was a pity that
her wedding was such an embarrassing memory, because being surrounded
by her sisters and Raya, wearing a beautiful dress and for once being
the centre of attention, even with Jem (or her hologrammatic
presence) there, had been utterly dreamy. The flowers, the dress, the
music... why should a niggling detail like being unable to make up
her mind which groom she wanted spoil absolutely everything? It had
been a fabulous party, and it wasn't as if either of the boys had
really minded all that much if she'd been a teensy bit indecisive
when it came to the point. No one cared that Bugs never really went
through with his weddings.

Kimber heaved a wistful sigh. She
really had loved the whole being a bride thing. It was just a pity
that a groom had to be involved at all. It would be so much easier if
she could just marry Stormer or something.

It was a pity that girls didn't marry
girls - although Stormer really would pick out the most awesome
wedding dress. Kimber always secretly envied the Misfits for having
Tommy Watts as their designer. Shana was fantastic, of course, and so
was Regine, but they had some kind of fusty old-fashioned prejudice
against zebra print and leopardskin.

They'd look outrageous together, Kimber
in her silk gown trimmed with pink roses, and Stormer in a white
leather minidress...

Kimber's daydreaming was interrupted as
Jerrica carefully lifted the sleepy Terri out of Kimber's arms,
giving her a kind smile as she did so.

"Why don't you give Stormer
another call? Sometimes these things take time."

Kimber nodded, aware she was pouting a
little. She had no idea why it irritated her so much when Jerrica was
so sweet to her. The girl was so relentlessly nice. And pretty, and
talented... And cheating on her boyfriend with Riot while she tricked
Rio into cheating on her, with herself. Kimber consoled herself with
the fact that she really wasn't the most mixed-up Benton sister, all
things considered.

It wasn't as if Kimber was the only one
to cross lines. Aja practically had an almost-Misfit boyfriend too.

Too? Kimber frowned a little. Aja and
Craig's on-off relationship had nothing to do with her pure and
beautiful friendship with Stormer. Well... beautiful, anyway. There
was no point in being best friends with a Misfit if she wasn't a
little bit wild.

She was almost cross as her finger
sharply turned the phone dial. Why didn't Stormer sense Kimber needed
her feelings soothed and answer the phone to do some soothing?

"Hello, Misfit Mansion!"

Kimber recognised the breathless pride
with which the address was announced, and felt a little better.
Constance Montgomery was a constant thorn in the Hologram's side, and
Kimber's sympathies were automatically with her cousin, but she
wasn't too bad, really. At least she wasn't Roxy. And she was pretty
easy to manipulate; after all, Jerrica had insisted that all Clash
really wanted, deep in her scheming heart, was to belong. And Jerrica
had an irritating tendency to be right.

"Clash, don't hang up or say
anything! Please." Kimber closed her eyes and prayed. When the
silence was unbroken, she sought the right words. "Clash, I
really, really need to speak to Stormer. No, don't say anything!
Clash, you know Stormer's my friend," she wheedled. "Stormer
would be really, really happy if you let her know I'm on the phone -
without letting Pizzazz know." Kimber could hear a but forming,
and rushed on. "She'd be really pleased with you if you help m -
us. Really, really pleased. She'll owe you big time."

For a long moment Kimber thought Clash
would either hang up or go to fetch Stormer. Finally, her voice came
coldly down the line. "So will you."

"Yes - yes, I will!" Kimber
tried to ignore the sudden cold feeling in her stomach. "I'll
pay you back, I promise."

"And I'll collect; I promise that.
Okay, hang on. I'll get her."

There was a long enough pause for
Kimber to start to seriously worry - and pout. What was Clash's deal,
anyway? Anyone would have thought that the long bus trips when Kimber
and "Sarah" had painted each other's toenails had been some
kind of illusion! Kimber bitterly wondered if she should have had
Raya talk to the ungrateful cow for her, anyway; surely saving a girl
from a rampaging tiger suggested some kind of bond between them.

There was a noisy clatter of the
receiver being picked up. "Hi."

Stormer didn't seem particularly
enthusiastic; Kimber figured that some of the other Misfist must be
in the room. Naturally she was overjoyed to hear from her best friend
in the world.

"Stormer! It's so good to hear
your voice. Listen, could you meet up with me? We could go get
milkshakes tomorrow, or -" Kimber checked the clock. It was well
past nine-thirty, but presumably the Misfits stayed up all night
partying and Stormer would think it was silly if Kimber thought it
was bedtime. "You could come over now, if you want. Or - I could
meet you at a night club. It'll be like old times."

"I don't think so. I'm busy."

"But - Stormer, I want to see
you!" Kimber wailed.

"So what?"

"Stormer!"

"If you wanted to see me so bad,
why didn't you ask me to your stupid wedding?"

"I did! I even asked you to
be a bridesmaid!"

"Oh." That was all Stormer
said, but Kimber could feel the doubt. She rushed on,

"Eric must've intercepted the
invitation. Or Pizzazz. Oh, Stormer, I'm sorry! Its probably better
you didn't come anyway - it was a total disaster. I can't believe I
was trying to marry Jeff when I really wanted Sean, only not really
because -"

"Kimber, I really could care less
about your boyfriends. Don't you dare come running to me when you've
got in trouble by behaving like a - like a complete - tramp! Next
time, maybe the boys can take turns like Jem and Jerrica do with
Rio."

Kimber, aghast, could feel the shocked
sobs welling up in her chest. How could Stormer, her sweet Stormer,
say something so outrageously horrid? She could hear the other
Misfits; raucous laughter in the background, adding the final touch
to her nightmare. "But - St-Stormer - it really wasn't my fault!
I'm just too young to make a commitment to a serious relationship!"

"So that's your excuse, is it?"
Stormer sounded close to tears herself, for some reason. "Is
that why you went back to the Holograms, too! And back to Sean, and
Jeff, and - who knows who else? Because you're too young to be
serious?"

Kimber blinked away her tears. "But
- Stormer - that's not the same kind of thing at all!"

The phone clattered down one more time,
and Kimber burst into noisy tears. Skilfully evading her foster
sisters, she took the stairs two at a time and fled to her sanctuary,
to cry her eyes out and confide to the only person who really
understood her, now Stormer was acting completely insane.

"Oh, Diary," she sighed,
absently doodling lightning bolts on the tears-and-angst stained
pages, "I just don't understand why Stormer is so upset. And now
I'm in Clash's debt for no reason at all! Why is Stormer being so
mean?"

The diary had no answer. Normally,
living with Jerrica, that was one of the nicest things about it. But
now, her heart aching more painfully than it ever had over a boy,
Kimber kind of wished it had.

Stormer turned bitterly away from the
phone. Her fellow Misfits were laughing and jeering, but she didn't
particularly feel like joining in. She just wanted to crawl away,
cling to her favourite teddy bear, and cry her eyes out. Sometimes,
the only friend a girl could trust was her teddy.

She had something else to do first. She
dialled the number of a certain downtown penthouse, anger making the
phone's dial whirl. Then she yelled at the secretary a bit until she
decided she was more afraid of the Misfits than her boss, who had
obviously left messages that he wasn't in to anyone, especially
Pizzazz.

"You better have a damn good
explanation, Eric Raymond!" she snarled, when he was finally put
through,

"Stormer, darling, I have no idea
what you're so angry about," Eric oozed in his oiliest tones,
which Stormer figured meant he had a very good idea indeed. Unless
he'd been doing something else rotten to her, which she wouldn't put
past him.

"Why didn't I get invited to
Kimber's wedding?"

Eric didn't miss a beat. "I warned
you that the Holograms can't be trusted and you'd just get hurt,
Stormer. Kimber's just like her sister - selfish, ungrateful,
untrustworthy-" His voice gained sincerity, and obsessive
hatred, with every word.

Stromer wasn't in the mood to be
sidetracked onto the Eric-Jerrica vendetta. "She said she
invited me to be bridesmaid!"

"And you believe a Hologram over
me?" Hurt pulsed down the phone line. "After all I've done
for you?"

"Yes!"

"It wasn't good for your public
image," Eric said crisply, abandoning deceit for the moment. "A
Misfit crying at a wedding like a rejected girlfriend - no. And you
should be grateful, because the further away you were from that
public relations mess, the better!"

Stormer was brutally aware that she was
going to cry properly, any second, and she didn't want Eric to hear
her. The words 'rejected girlfriend' echoed in her head. "You
interfere with my mail again, and I'm quitting! And I'll call my
brother up and say you fired me! Remember that, Eric Raymond!"
she said thickly, and resorted once again to the usual Misfit method
of ending calls, which was to hang up in his ear.

She turned, pushing down sobs, to face
a group of girls who hadn't even bothered to pretend not to be
gleefully listening. They'd probably know all about what Eric had
done, she bitterly thought, and they hated her brother Craig to a
woman, but that didn't mean they didn't love hearing Eric get told
off.

"That's what you get for hanging
around with a Hologram. Told you she'd break your heart in two."

"Shut up, Pizzazz!" Stormer
turned and ran from the room, in desperate search of her teddy bear.

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